When I was learning how to drive, I had a large suburban that stood out like a sore thumb. I remember my mother telling me to be careful where I parked, because that car couldn't hide, so if I was parked somewhere I shouldn't be, then my parents would likely hear about it.
When Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, he's saying something similar -- he wants to hear good things when he hears about the church, whether he is there in person or not. He wants to hear that they're making the right choices, striving side by side for the Gospel, not afraid of anything.
This all sounds great until Paul gets to the part where there seems to be good reason to be frightened -- they are suffering, but Paul doesn't tell them that God has it all wrong when they suffer -- Paul tells them instead that they've been granted to suffer, like it's a good thing, because they're suffering for the faith. From my position, I read this with furrowed brows, wondering why people who are striving for the faith would suffer. But for the early church, suffering was part of everyday operations -- they were constantly being persecuted, and they endured with grateful hearts, because they identified their suffering with the suffering of Jesus Christ.
Can we do the same? We suffer differently, and yet it's the same. We deal with physical suffering, relational suffering, emotional suffering. The causes may be different than the early church, but the root is the same -- sin is causing things to fall apart, be it our bodies or our relationships. We suffer, because sin has its teeth sunk into us, and is trying to tear the world apart. Jesus Christ has absorbed the ultimate suffering so that we don't have to endure separation from God, allowing us to endure with hope -- we know that even if we perish, we do so with the knowledge that God will claim us and bring us into the fullness of the Kingdom of God. When we stay focused on Christ, even in the midst of suffering, we demonstrate that we shall not fear what sin can do, because we know that God's power is greater.
Being a Christian never means that we won't suffer, but it means that we can endure suffering with the knowledge that Christ will not allow suffering to lead us away from God, but will meet us in the midst of our suffering, because Christ can relate to suffering, and show us a light that will not be dimmed, even by the darkest night.
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